


Now and Forever

by WGDWriter



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Romance, just overall cute stuff with a twist ending!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21989194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WGDWriter/pseuds/WGDWriter
Summary: It's Ludwig and Feliciano's two year anniversary. A special day is meant to end in a special way.
Relationships: Germany/North Italy (Hetalia)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	Now and Forever

He sat there in silence, blue eyes looking forward with nervousness as he shifted in his white suit. The man was usually able to hide such an emotion, but he couldn't contain it this time. He could get away with just showing emotion through his eyes, but by the way he was biting his lip and bouncing his knee; anyone can tell that something was bothering the man. He growled to himself and pushed a nervous hand through his blond hair that he always had slicked back.

"Man up, Ludwig." he muttered to himself, revealing his German heritage, "It can't be as bad as what happened the last time."

Even as the words came out of his mouth, he sounded doubtful which only made him even more nervous. Ludwig sighed with defeat, digging his hand into his pocket to pull out a small box. Upon opening it, the German was able to see the engagement ring he bought so long ago. The tomato shaped ruby still shined brightly on the plain silver band, causing his cheeks to burn red from the memories associated with it.

Ludwig clearly remembered the day he had attempted to propose to his best friend, thinking that the Italian was infatuated with him. He in turn started to develop feelings for Feliciano that he never expected to form and followed a love manual step by step up to the point it told him to go and propose to his friend. The German covered his reddened cheeks with a hand and closed the box, tightly holding onto it. That day embarrassed Ludwig to no end and here the German was, contemplating on proposing with the exact same ring yet again to same person.

"This time is different." Ludwig tried to reason with himself, really wanting to have some courage to attempt this proposal again, "We've been together for a while now and this time I'm sure we share the same feelings."

_Unless I have been misinterpreting the situation again._ He continued in his head, becoming even more doubtful and nervous. Ludwig didn't want to mess this up like he did the first time. He almost couldn't live with the embarrassment before; doing everything he could to avoid Feliciano for the first month after the tragic proposal. The only reason their friendship continued on was because the Italian thought he did something wrong and cornered Ludwig to apologize for anything that came to mind. The German had to calm down Feliciano from his worried state and things almost returned to normal.

Ludwig had been still a bit distant, but his old friend didn't seem to mind. Feliciano still acted the same and that had allowed Ludwig to get back into the swing of things again. But the feelings that Ludwig had developed for his friend never faded. The German was good at hiding his feelings, but interacting with Feliciano would always cause some sort of awkward situation that would cause the German to become pretty flustered and he would have to retreat to a different room.

It wasn't until two years ago at a Christmas party that Ludwig's feelings came to light. Gilbert and an unknown accomplice had put Feliciano in a harmless situation that at a glance looked rather dangerous. Even as the German remembered the day, Ludwig has yet to decide whether or not he wanted to thank or strangle Gilbert's accomplice; though he probably should punish the mysterious person in some way since Ludwig had done so to his brother. They had Feliciano screaming for help and by the time Ludwig had 'saved' his friend, Feliciano was scared stiff and wouldn't leave his side. The Italian was practically clinging to him with every step and flinched away from everyone, even his own brother.

Everyone eventually left the two of them alone, but Lovino would come by every now and then to check up on his brother and give suspicious glances over to Ludwig. Feliciano slowly began to relax once everyone kept their distance and he became the hyper Italian that the German knew to be his friend. Feliciano pulled Ludwig into a deep conversation and before they knew it, people were staring and laughing at them. It took the two of them a while to notice that everyone's attention was on them but once they did, Elizabeta just simply pointed to the ceiling with a giggle.

Someone had managed to get some mistletoe above them, and the thought of the act associated with the plant made both Ludwig and Feliciano turn bright red. This had only made their spectators laugh more and they started chanting 'Kiss him' over and over again, though Lovino seemed to be in a pretty bad mood because of the sudden situation. Ludwig had looked over at his Italian friend, seeing that Feliciano was taking an interest in his hands though he looked like he was trying to shrink away from the sudden attention. The German was doing the same, but there was no way they could pass the tradition the mistletoe held.

Rather quickly, Ludwig pecked his best friend's cheek, causing Feliciano to jump in surprise while everyone else in the room booed. Elizabeta did try to make Ludwig give Feliciano a proper kiss afterwards. She claimed that's how the rules worked but the German simply pointed out that a kiss on the cheek was sufficient enough. Nothing really stated that it had to be a kiss on the lips, a loophole that Ludwig was glad to have found. This only went and caused the Hungarian to call him a chicken, not that such a taunt would work on him, but it made Elizabeta seem childish.

Later, Ludwig and Feliciano found themselves outside alone and under some more mistletoe. The first incident was embarrassing enough and since they were alone, Ludwig suggested they walk away. But Feliciano insisted that they should, not only because of tradition but just in case they were spotted. Ludwig had hesitantly agreed and this time the Italian was the one to initiate the kiss, planting his lips on the German's. Ludwig had been surprised by Feliciano's actions, but he didn't pull away. Feliciano explained later that he had liked Ludwig as more than a friend for a while, but didn't want to ruin what they had. After the surprise went away, Ludwig had confessed that he too felt the same for a while. Once he revealed that, there was cheering, revealing that the two of them had drawn a crowd.

The blond sighed at the memory, fighting to control the raging blush on his cheeks as he opened the box to look at the ring again. He wanted to propose again, but he feared that he was moving too fast like on Valentine's Day. Ludwig had been sure to not rush into anything since that day, sometimes overthinking simple situations. This decision was something he had been thinking about for a week now. Ludwig thought that he had everything decided, but as he waited for Feliciano to arrive, the German was starting to get cold feet. He feared he would get the same reaction as he did before, despite him and Feliciano openly dating. If the Italian did reject him, then it would probably go smoother and Ludwig wouldn't have to flee the restaurant, but the rejection would possibly strain their relationship.

"I can't do it." Ludwig sighed, dropping his head into a hand. He couldn't keep his gaze away from the ring, staring at it until he forced his hand to close the box once again. "I'm not confident enough. Knowing me, I'll spoil the mood and mess everything up."

With another sigh, Ludwig got to his feet and glanced at his watch. There was still half an hour until Ludwig expected Feliciano. He would put away the ring and plan out his proposal some more then he could set a date. The perfect date would be one when the day was warm for sure. December was too cold and besides, Ludwig and Feliciano's 2 year anniversary was today. Why should the German do an over kill on the romance? Ludwig was terrible at being romantic, despite him being quite a romantic at heart, but Feliciano did say that with every date he was getting better and better at it. Ludwig had never been the one to express his feelings openly, but he had been opening up and this allowed him to show his romantic side. Though, his romantic side was a bit cheesy since he based all of his actions off of romance novels, losing his trust in love manuals since the dreadful first proposal.

Just as Ludwig went to go to his room to hide the ring, the doorbell rang. The German jumped with surprise, glancing at his watch. Feliciano was supposed to arrive in twenty minutes. Who would be at the door now of all time? The doorbell rang again and Ludwig slipped the ring in his pocket, calling out to his visitor. _Whoever is outside better not take long_ , Ludwig thought as he gripped the door handle. He wanted today to go perfectly; their date was in no way to be delayed.

Once the door was open, Ludwig could only stare at the familiar brunette in front of him. "F-Feli." he managed to say, seeing the Italian in a warm jacket but knew he wore a rather expensive suit underneath. Feliciano was looking rather handsome despite the usual messy hair look, nearly distracting Ludwig. The German looked back down at his watch again despite knowing the time, "Y-You're early."

"I-I am?" Feliciano's amber eyes widened and jumped to his watch, tapping it as if that would fix the mechanics in it, "I thought I was late. Should I come back later or…?"

"N-No! It's fine." Ludwig insisted, "Its good practice for the future." A small smile appeared on the German's lips when Feliciano giggled. "Though, I think you'll have to fix that watch later so it doesn't get more ahead."

Feliciano nodded with a smile, "I'll do that. You always did tell me to have my watch set ten minutes ahead. I'll change it after our date!" Just the mention of their date made Ludwig look to the ground in a shy manner, causing the Italian to laugh. He found it rather cute that a strong and confident man like his German got so flustered and shy over a simple date. "Hey, hey Luddy~" Feliciano chirped, getting Ludwig's attention again, "Since I came early, we have plenty of time to make it to our reservation. Should we hang out here for a bit or do you want to leave now?"

Ludwig looked at his watch again, even though he knew there was plenty of time. "We could leave now." he nodded, "Who knows what traffic is going to be like later on."

"Prompt as always." Feliciano laughed as Ludwig got his coat.

"Is that such a bad thing?" Ludwig asked with a smile, knowing what his Italian would say. They always managed to end their conversations with the same sentences before heading out.

"Nope." Feliciano smiled back, leaning up to peck the German's cheek, "It's just cute; as always."

The ride to the restaurant proved to be uneventful. Traffic was fine and they arrived at the restaurant earlier than expected, but in the time that a parking spot was found they would have a few minutes to spare. This restaurant was pretty new, opening for the first time today. It was to represent a merge between two name brand restaurants that had been competing with one another for years before they called a truce. Reservation was almost the only way to get in and by the time Ludwig and Feliciano heard of the opening date, the restaurant was booked. The only reason they got their reservation was because Feliciano had helped the owner in the past with some cooking tips that had made the man more successful. The moment someone cancelled their reservation, the owner gave it to Feliciano.

"The place is packed." Feliciano stared at awe at the line at the entrance once the car was parked, "I wonder how long we have to wait before we get in."

"Not sure." Ludwig said, looking at his watch as he turned the ignition off, "We have a few minutes before we have to be inside. We should probably get in line before it gets any longer."

Feliciano simply nodded and got out with Ludwig, shivering at the temperature difference. The cold temperature threatened to bring snow, despite it having snowed the previous day. The threat of more snow probably meant that the ride home was going to be terrible which meant Ludwig was going to be irritable later on. He hated driving in snowy weather, especially with careless drivers being out on the road this time of night. A light breeze cause Feliciano to shiver again, and Ludwig was soon by the Italian's side to wrap an arm around Feliciano. The German rubbed some warmth back into his date as he searched for the end of the line. It seemed that it went back for several blocks and it was at a standstill.

Ludwig sighed quietly and began to lead Feliciano to the line. "Looks like we'll be waiting outside longer than expected." he said with an irritated mutter. He should have known that a line this long would have formed. The previous feud was between two popular restaurants, why wouldn't their truce attract a lot of customers? "We should have left earlier." he sighed to himself.

"Mr. Vargas!" a voice called out as they neared the line. A man in a manager's uniform waved the two of them down as he ran up to them, "You have a reservation correct?" Once Feliciano nodded, the man continued, "You can head right inside. We have your table ready for you." The man looked up to Ludwig quickly before giving his attention back to the Italian. "And this is your plus one, correct?"

Feliciano nodded again with a smile and looped his arm through Ludwig's. "Yes he is!" he said with happiness that radiated like the sun.

The Italian's actions didn't go by unnoticed by the manager and several bystanders. The manager was good enough to shrug away his surprise and lead the couple inside, but those who didn't ignore them gave the two looks. Their stares bore into Ludwig's back, making him glad that the cold could cover the real reason why his cheeks were red. Walking away from the restaurant was the German's first instinct. He didn't want to deal with prying eyes, but he didn't want that to ruin his two year anniversary. So instead, Ludwig pulled Feliciano a bit closer in a sort of protective embrace and walked as if he didn't mind the extra attention.

When Ludwig pulled Feliciano closer, something in the German's pocket jabbed at the Italian. Ludwig was quick to loosen his grip, giving Feliciano an apologetic look. He would have to check his pocket later and see if he could move the object into another pocket. The couple was quickly brought inside and the manager first checked to see where they were going to be seated. The man clicked his tongue with some disapproval and looked over to Feliciano.

"Your table is probably not in the most desirable place at the moment." he said, "I can change the seating arrangements so you can have some more privacy if you would like."

Feliciano's face became thoughtful for a moment, before he glanced up to Ludwig. The German caught this and became a bit confused. Why would his date need to think about changing their seats? He was probably concerned with how Ludwig felt about large crowds seeing them together in a moment. The blonde was never good at being romantic in front of others, preferring to show that side when in a more secluded area so as to not embarrass himself in front of others. But Feliciano seemed to be taking a long time in thinking this over, biting his lip and staring at the ground in concentration.

Ludwig gently squeezed Feliciano's hand, gaining his attention. "I think we'll be fine with the current seating arrangement." he said softly.

Feliciano's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"We'll be fine…I think."

"Should I bring you to your table then sirs?" the manager's eyes were on Feliciano, who hesitantly nodded. Once the two of them were seated, the manager said something about their menus before disappearing.

Ludwig looked around the spacious restaurant. The place was moderately fancy, with a few gaudy light fixtures placed on the walls. Replicas of famous art hung on the walls, which strangely enough allowed the lighting to compliment the rest of the décor and furniture. Other people who were lucky enough to arrive before the huge line developed were talking quietly to themselves, ignoring the couple easily. Surely as the restaurant allowed more people in, some eyes will glance over at them. That Ludwig knew was evident, but he decided to enjoy the current atmosphere. Enjoy the feeling of privacy before others came in. By the time the German's eyes returned to their own table, Ludwig realized Feliciano was staring at him, causing his still red cheeks become even redder causing Feliciano to laugh quietly.

"Like it so far?" Feliciano smiled.

"Y-Yeah." Ludwig cleared his throat, taking a sip of water that was on the table when they arrived, "This place is very nice. They mixed aspects from both restaurants together making sure everything fit nicely together."

"Yeah! I heard that the owners of the chains decided to become a multicultural restaurant to add more variety too. Every week they have a new menu with two complimentary cultures for food choices. You don't see that much because that would cost a lot of money. But since both chains were very successful before, they have a budget strategy that will possibly work. I suspect that they'll change it to every two or three weeks to match their long term budget goal. Or if that doesn't work, they will possibly create one menu with a few choice dishes from each culture. That's what most restaurants would do if they were to go along the same path."

Ludwig stared at Feliciano, causing the Italian to tilt his head to the side in slight confusion. "Was it something I said?"

"If it's about food, you always manage to have a vast knowledge on what's going on. But when it comes to physical activity, you are at a complete loss in what to do. How is that?" Ludwig face showed complete seriousness, but his tone was teasing.

"I'm just an expert in one thing while you're the expert in the other." Feliciano stated easily, causing them both to chuckle. Once their laughter died down, a waiter came by with menus and they quickly ordered before continuing to converse.

Their date went on without distractions. Ludwig barely noticed that people were staring at them, being absorbed into his conversation with Feliciano. The German almost forgot what they were talking about half way through, as his attention was caught from his date's vigorous hand gestures. Whenever Feliciano was passionate about something, his whole body would show it; and his passion was never excluded when he was talking. The more excitement the Italian felt, the more wildly Feliciano would gesture until the climax of the story. And what else would Feliciano be talking about other than the food that lay mostly eaten upon their plates? If it wasn't the food, Feliciano would probably be babbling about the art that hung on the walls.

But there was one thing that caught Ludwig's attention. As Feliciano's gesturing became wilder, the waiter assigned to them would pass by. It was likely that the waiter had other tables to serve, but his gaze would be on Feliciano and then he would travel away from their table. This happened several times, and each time the man's face would scrunch up that Ludwig guessed with disgust. The German was then able to tune out the waiter. He probably heard about what happened outside and came to the same conclusion as the others who were probably staring at them. Like Ludwig said, he wasn't going to let anything ruin their date.

"Hehe, you look cute when you're staring off into space Luddy~" Feliciano smiled, causing Ludwig to jump and blush in surprise. Feliciano laughed; the image of the German smiling with an unfocused gaze still in his mind.

"S-Sorry…" Ludwig muttered, rubbing his hands together.

Feliciano laughed again. "It's okay. There's really nothing to apologize for. I always do meaningless babble anyway."

"Meaningless?" Ludwig raised an eyebrow, "You rarely ever babble meaninglessly Feli. The only time you ever babble is when you try to get out of training."

"It never did work." Feliciano sighed, but there was a smile on his face, "I only ever delayed training for a couple of minutes."

"One time for an hour because you 'lost' your boots and you kept distracting me." Ludwig chuckled, letting his hands fall to his lap. He felt something lightly jab into his arm as he heard Feliciano chuckle back and he began to search his pocket.

"Yeah." Feliciano sighed happily and leaned forward, "It was hot that day and you wanted us to run five laps around the park with Kiku, who even agreed that it was too hot to run that many laps." Feliciano laughed again focusing his attention more on Ludwig. His smile slowly faded when he realized that the German was looking shocked, his whole body rigid. "Ludwig? Is everything okay?"

"Y-Yeah…" he let out a quiet breath and stood up slowly, "Erm… I'll be back. I need to check on something."

Before Feliciano could say anything, Ludwig quickly walked away and found the restroom. He felt like he couldn't breathe as he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a familiar ring box. " _Idiot_ …" Ludwig muttered to himself, tightly grasping onto the box as he leaned into the wall, his head spinning. He had forgotten that he put the ring in his pocket when Feliciano came. How was Ludwig supposed to keep it hidden from his date? Yes, the German did have it for this long without Feliciano figuring out, but now that Ludwig was aware of where the ring was…

"I have to stay composed." Ludwig told himself, "I'm not going to ruin this date. I won't ruin what we have built up to just to destroy it with another proposal." He opened his hand and gave the box a sad look as he put it in his pocket. "If he's not ready…then neither am I."

Ludwig sighed at the obvious lie he told himself, but he was willing to make himself believe it for the sake of Feliciano's happiness. The German took a few deep breaths, composing himself before getting out of the restroom and getting back to his seat. Once Ludwig was in view, Feliciano stood up and looked at his date, concerned enough to ignore their waiter who was setting down some refills.

"Ludwig?"

"I'm fine." Ludwig offered Feliciano a smile. He quickly took one of the Italian's hands, squeezing it gently before sitting back down. Feliciano followed suit, but still looked concerned. "I wasn't feeling well for a moment there." Ludwig elaborated, "A small stomach pain, but I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?" Feliciano asked with wide eyes, "You could have gotten food poisoning and you might feel better now, but you'll be worse off later!"

"Feliciano!" Ludwig hissed, looking over to their waiter who looked a bit frightened, "I assure you I'm fine." He said, being sure the both of them understood. "I think I just had a bit too much to eat."

The waiter instantly relaxed, but Feliciano still looked a bit unconvinced. "Are you sure? We can go home if you're still not feeling well."

"I'm fine." Ludwig chuckled, "I'm a bit concerned with how you're acting though. I should be the one asking if you're feeling okay." He was obviously teasing, but he was surprised that Feliciano was acting like this compared to his carefree nature.

"I'm fine." Feliciano sighed, his gaze looking downward as he leaned back in his chair, "I just…want this day to turn out perfect."

Ludwig let out a quiet sigh, a smile on his face as he shook his head lightly. "Feli." his tone was soft, but it was enough to make the Italian look at him, "What makes you think that this day hasn't been perfect? I just had a small ache and it went away. Nothing has ruined this day and I doubt anything will."

Feliciano brightened up immediately, smiling with the same radiance that he had shown before they entered the restaurant, and leaned forward with his drink in hand. "Then here's to a perfect day; our second anniversary~"

Ludwig just simply smiled, raising his own glass up and tapping it against his date's. As he drank, he realized that their waiter was still there…looking surprised and a bit pale. The German's cheeks quickly became red, and he almost choked on his drink as he cleared his throat. Feliciano just blinked in confusion and upon seeing the waiter only smiled sweetly.

"Er, Feliciano. Are we going to be ordering dessert or are we heading home?"

Feliciano tilted his head ever so slightly as he thought for a moment, chewing on his lower lip for a bit before nodding. "We don't need to have dessert. You already had a stomachache for a bit because of dinner and we don't want to experience that again. But…" The Italian put on a smile, taking a sip of his drink. "I was told that the owner was offering a new wine that we could taste test. The offer is only open to us for tonight and then the rest of the public can try starting tomorrow. Do you think we can have a quick taste?"

Feliciano put on his pleading face, one that usually got to Ludwig no matter what was being asked. There was only one time that the blonde was able to refuse the look, otherwise the look was flawless. "You don't have to resort to such a look Feli." Ludwig chuckled with a smile, "We can do a quick test and then we'll have the bill."

"The test is free." the waiter managed to get out. He seemed to be finally getting over his shock, but the color refused to come back to his face. "We have three assortments you can try out: Peppermint, Maple and Brown Sugar, and The Mystery."

"The Mystery?" Ludwig asked.

The waiter nodded lightly, "It's our newest wine, created especially for opening day, but the manager decided to hold it off until tomorrow. It's supposed to be a great hit."

"Why don't we try that?" Feliciano looked over at Ludwig with a smile who nodded in agreement, "Okay, so we'll try The Mystery and if you can bring the bill over as well, that would be fantastic!"

Feliciano's face was one of happiness, doing a wild hand gesture before the waiter did a shaky bow and walked off. Ludwig raised an eyebrow as the man walked away. Maybe the waiter hadn't fully believed they were together after all. The German sighed, and now that their date was coming to an end he could no longer ignore the stares that came from other customers. It was a bit unnerving really, especially since with nothing to distract Ludwig his thoughts began to think back to the ring in his pocket. The blonde just simply put on a brave face, drinking some water to help calm his nerves.

"Ludwig?" Feliciano's voice was timid and Ludwig noticed he was picking at the table cloth, "A-Are you sure you want to stay for the wine? We don't have to…"

Ludwig was quiet a moment, watching as his date fidgeted in his seat with nervous golden eyes that refused to stay focused on one thing for too long. Blue eyes gazed around the room a moment, landing on a pair of eyes that belonged to another customer. The customer's eyes widened, darting to look someplace else but they would occasionally look back to see if the German was still looking. Everywhere Ludwig looked, there were eyes on them. He didn't like all of the added attention, the German never did. It made Ludwig nervous. Made him feel like he was being judged with every move he made. The blonde's eyes trailed back to Feliciano who seemed to have finally found a place to keep his attention on. The Italian was staring into his lap, biting his lip while his eyes shined with what Ludwig would describe as nervousness. The German stared at Feliciano a moment before taking in a deep breath and straightening his back a bit before extending his arm across the table.

"Feli… _mein Engel_." Ludwig said quietly, gaining the Italian's attention. It took a minute for Feliciano to see that the other was offering his hand despite the unwanted attention. He gladly took it, always loving the feel of the German's strong fingers give such gentle touches. Once their hands were linked, Ludwig gave Feliciano a small smile before squeezing his date's hand. "I don't want to leave unless our date is over. Some people are having a hard time keeping to themselves, but we don't have to leave until we tested out the wine and paid for the bill. Once that's done, we'll leave."

Feliciano smiled happily, his eyes stinging from tears that were ready to spill out. He simply just blinked them away, trying to not go and cry to cause further embarrassment. "I-I was worried that it wouldn't end that way." he admitted, "It's our two year anniversary…I just wanted everything to be perfect."

"It has been." Ludwig assured the Italian, squeezing his hand again, "Nothing went and ruined this evening. Nothing will."

"That's good." Feliciano sighed, smiling a bit bigger, "There have been butterflies in my stomach all night."

"What were you worried about?" Ludwig asked as the waiter returned with a fancy looking wine bottle and two wine glasses with bows on them. Feliciano made sure to unlink their hands and smiled at the waiter as he poured their samples out. "It's uncommon for you to be nervous." the blonde continued taking the glass the waiter offered him.

"I-I…well…" Feliciano looked down at his glass and his fingers began to play with the bow on it absent mindedly, "I wanted to ask you something, but I wasn't sure when the best time would be. Every time I thought I had the courage to ask…I would get scared and talk about something else…"

"You know you can ask me anything." Ludwig replied, taking a sip of the new wine. The taste surprised him, causing him to take another sip to see if what he tasted was real or not. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the glass in his hand. "This wine tastes like gr-"

Ludwig stopped and blinked in surprise. The bow had caught his attention. It was white and tied in a fancy knot, but there was something hanging in the middle of it. Silver and what looked like gold or amber stuck out as clear as day. Pulling the clashing colors away from the bow revealed the object to be a ring with a gem that looked similar to a potato. Confusion flooded into the blue of Ludwig's eyes as he stared at the ring. He couldn't understand why a ring was attached to his glass, but his heart beat seemed to have picked up.

"Why is there-"Ludwig's eyes moved away from the ring to Feliciano and he couldn't even finish his sentence. Feliciano was standing next to him, looking down at him with a nervous smile before getting down on one knee. The German's eye's widened with surprise, his cheeks growing warmer as his heart jumped to his throat. "F-Feli?" Ludwig's voice was uncommonly high pitched, caused by the sudden dryness in his throat and the realization that customers and staff members were staring at them even more now.

Feliciano's gaze stayed glued to the German's, his own cheeks gaining a red tint. "I-I've been thinking a lot Luddy. About the future…about us." The Italian took a deep breath, one of his hands tugging at the tie around his neck as he said his next words. "I-I also started to think about that one Valentine's Day when, well…you know what happened." Ludwig faintly nodded, his cheeks growing warmer at the memories on that disastrous day. "W-Well…one thing lead to another and it lead to today…" Feliciano continued, his gaze momentarily looking at the ring between Ludwig's fingers, "…and the question I wanted to ask. W-Will you marry me?"

The whole restaurant was quiet, too quiet. Everyone's attention was on them and there Ludwig was; blushing like mad with his heart trying to beat out of his chest. He couldn't even attempt to speak, no words willing to form on his tongue. They were caught in his throat and if anything, Ludwig felt like passing out. It was too much for him, but he managed to release a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Once he knew he was at least breathing correctly, the blonde slipped his free hand into his pocket and pulled out the ring box. Feliciano blinked in surprise, watching as Ludwig opened the box to reveal the tomato ring from that day.

"I was planning on asking you the same thing." he managed to say with a steady voice.

Feliciano just simply put a hand over his mouth as few tears slipped down his cheeks. Putting both rings on the table, Ludwig stood up offering a hand to his Italian. Once Feliciano was on his feet, the two of them stared at one another a moment before finally giving in to a kiss. The kiss didn't last long. Once people started applauding and cheering for them, they broke apart. They smiled at the customers who dared to support them, but Ludwig was able to see several tables that just simply gave them looks. He turned to their waiter, who was looking slightly tipsy at the moment, and awkwardly handed him a credit card and a generous tip.

The moment they got out, Ludwig sighed deeply; taking in the cold yet sweet winter air. His cheeks were still red from the proposal, and the sight of snow flurries did make him irritable. But looking down at Feliciano, who was clinging to his arm and admiring the ring on his finger, the German couldn't help but smile. He could see his own engagement ring on his finger, causing the irritable mood to melt away. The two of them were engaged and the night was still young. Nothing was going to spoil their happy mood now that they had each other now and forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Translation:  
> mein Engel (German): my angel
> 
> Old fic upload again. I almost forgot about posting this one too. I had been listening to the song Now and Forever With You and it helped inspire this. Also, this was around the time that someone on Tumblr posted a picture of a recreated ring that Germany gave Italy in the Valentines Day episode and there was a potato ring beside it. There was originally more random German and Italian in here, but while editing this, I couldn't help but keep the one pet name I put in. I have fond memories of it and I feel like something would be missing if I took it out.


End file.
